President Obama presents initiative to help homeless LGBT youth

The Obama administration unveiled a plan Tuesday that is intended to end chronic homelessness by 2015 and homelessness among families, youth, and children by 2020 — and LGBT youth are one of the target populations being included in the initiative.

“On any given night in America more than 640,000 men, women, and children are without housing,” said Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “While some are scarred by war, others are families who have recently lost their home; still, others are youth aging out of foster care or are perhaps unable to stay with families [that are] hostile to their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The plan uses 19 federal agencies in support of accomplishing four goals: ending chronic homelessness in five years; preventing and ending homelessness among veterans in five years; preventing homelessness for families, youth, and children in a decade; and setting a path for ending all homelessness.